The invention first relates to a method for the heat treatment of a profile, in particular an extruded profile for aircraft. In addition, the invention relates to a device for the heat treatment of a profile, in particular an extruded profile for aircraft. Finally, the invention relates to a profile, in particular an extruded profile for aircraft.
Extruded profiles, in particular those formed with curable aluminum alloys, are extensively used in aircraft construction owing to the high mechanical loading capacity required there. The requirement for continual weight reduction is placing an ever-increasing demand on static loading capacity and other mechanical parameters of profiles made out of aluminum alloy.
For example, known treatment methods make it possible to specifically optimize extruded profiles made of curable aluminum alloys for maximum static strength or corrosion resistance. The same holds true for the achievable maximum fracture toughness of the used aluminum profiles. However, it is essentially impossible to simultaneously maximize static strength, fracture toughness and corrosion resistance, since each of these material properties can only be optimized to a theoretical maximum at the expense of at least one other material property. For example, this means that an extruded profile made of a curable aluminum alloy either exhibits a very high static strength, or reveals very favorable properties with regard to corrosion resistance and/or fracture toughness. Known treatment methods can generally not be used to optimize a profile relative to its material properties in such a way that both static strength and corrosion resistance and fracture toughness achieve the advantageous values to be realized during the isolated optimization of the profile for a single parameter.
This is because known methods involve subjecting the extruded profiles made of curable aluminum alloys to essentially the same treatment steps, so that they exhibit roughly identical material properties throughout, regardless of region. As a consequence, an aluminum profile cannot automatically be specifically optimized by region with respect to static strength, fracture toughness and corrosion resistance using the known methods.